@SophiaHayter fetish or lifestyle? depends on the person!
what's the draw? I'm not sure, personally. I mean it's like why do I like ice cream? I just find anthropomorphic animals appealing from many angles.
@SophiaHayter
It's a fetish, a lifestyle, a collection of aesthetics, a community, and a subculture.
There's a lot of variation in what draws people to #Furry. For me personally, it was a space where I could explore my gender and sexuality without worrying about being judged for being weird. Didn't hurt that I was fascinated with centaurs at the time too. =3
@SophiaHayter
For some, the appeal is spiritual. "Therians" are a subset of furries who see themselves as having non-human souls and thus identify strongly with another species.
For others, the appeal is pornographic. There is a /lot/ of overlap between the furry and kink communities.
For most, at least part of the appeal is the community itself. For furries, going to a furry convention induces such a feeling of belonging that "post-con depression" is a very common experience.
@SophiaHayter
Seriously, I never knew what "coming home" really felt like until I walked into a hotel lobby full of "my people" for the first time.
Having to leave that and go back to a life where I spend most of my time masking myself as a "totally normal human" feels like going back into the closet.
@SophiaHayter If you've got about an hour and a half, here's a documentary about the fandom produced by the fandom.
THE FANDOM is a documentary film about the furry fandom. It dives headfirst into the imaginative world of “FURRIES,” the often-misunderstood internet subcult...
@SophiaHayter Hah, fair enough - and good luck with your studies!
As for the furry fandom at large? Cliff's notes: We're a bunch of creative animal-loving nerds that like art, animation, sculpture, writing, and music. Most every convention features costuming competitions, dances, art shows, and panels on how to start or refine creative talents.
@SophiaHayter the short answer is it’s whatever any individual in the community needs it to be, typically having it’s roots in escapism and self-expression.
I would personally recommend taking a look at Pittsburgh City Paper’s “Fur and Loathing” article which does a pretty good job of giving a good outside perspective.
@SophiaHayter ask 12 furries and you will get 15 different answers.
For some it's very spiritual, for others it's a great artistic endeavour, and for yet others it is highly sexual and sexually charged.
But for most there is some kind of mix of the three but always some form of escapism and expression divorced from the perceived banality of the human form.
Also, I wouldn't trust highschoolers opinions on much; particularly sexuality. Too many still read drivel like Atlas Shrugged.
@SophiaHayter There are times when I hear a rumor that baffles me completely and this is one.
(I am also having to remind myself that US and Canadian colleges are very different. Here a college is a trade school.)
I doubt there would be enough furries in any given HS to fill a class, no less the entire building?
@SophiaHayter it's a fairly loose concept, honestly - the only prerequisite is anthropomorphism in some way. Most pre-Judeo-Christian cultures incorporate anthropomorphism in spirituality on some level to explore human integration with the natural world. It's deep rooted.
In the modern context? Often there are lifestyle elements, many folks immerse themselves in it. Fetish exists within that. It's not exclusively a sexual experience though; for many (me included) it's a much broader vehicle for self-expression, creative and personal, which allows one to explore identity through fictional characters. Those characters being anthro animals is just aesthetic preference, although it often carries a deeper meaning, like therianism.
The biggest draw card is community; a global association, loosely aggregated, of other folks with similar interests. It definitely isn't a monolith.
@SophiaHayter Can be either, depends on the person!
Animal characters are cool. They can be more fun to customize than human characters, especially in games like VR Chat and Second Life with robust furry cultures. A lot of us grew up on cartoons and games with funny animals and grew attached to that.
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